No Election Declared; BJP Candidate Declared Winner in Surat
Image Source: The Hindu
The Bharatiya Janata Party’s candidate for Gujarat’s Surat Lok Sabha seat has been declared elected, having been elected unopposed after other candidates withdrew their candidature. Additionally, the Congress party rejected the candidate’s nomination document.
The conditions necessary for a legitimate nomination are outlined in Section 33 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (RP Act). An elector above 25 years of age may run for the Lok Sabha from any Indian seat under the RP Act.
However, the candidate’s proposer(s) must be an elector from the constituency in which the nomination is being filed. If the candidate is from a recognized party (national or state), they must have one proposer. Ten proposers must certify candidates proposed by independents and unrecognized parties. Up to four nomination papers from various sets of proposers may be submitted by a candidate. This will allow a candidate’s candidature to be accepted even if one set of nomination papers is out of order.
The rules for the Returning Officer’s (RO) examination of nomination papers are outlined in Section 36 of the RP Act. It states that a nomination cannot be denied by the Returning Officer for a flaw that is not very serious. However, the law suggests that rejection is permitted if the proposer’s or candidate’s signature is determined to be fraudulent.
The Present Issue
At present, the All India National Congress’s candidate, Nilesh Kumbhani, submitted three sets of nomination documents for the Surat constituency. His brother-in-law, nephew, and business partner were the ones who proposed these three nomination papers.
A BJP employee voiced objections to Mr. Kumbhani’s nomination, claiming that the signatures of those who supported him were forged. Affidavits from the proposers asserting that they had not signed the candidate’s nomination papers were also sent to the Returning Officer. Within a day, he asked the applicant to respond to and clarify the objections made. All three sets of nomination papers were rejected because the proposers could not be brought before the RO in time for examination.
A political party may field a replacement candidate per the election regulations if the original candidate’s nomination is denied. In this instance, Suresh Padsala was the replacement candidate put forward by the Congress party. But for the same reason—that is, the proposer’s signature wasn’t authentic—the alternative candidate’s nomination paper was also turned down. The BJP candidate Mukesh Dalal was declared the winner after the other nominations were either withdrawn or rejected.
At least 35 candidates have been elected to the Lok Sabha without facing any opposition. The majority occurred over the first 20 years following independence, with 2012 being the last. However, the Congress party has claimed that the proposers in this particular case were forced to retract their signatures. It has applied to the Election Commission (EC) in an attempt to overturn the RO’s ruling and hold fresh elections.
It is improbable that the EC will grant this request, though, given Article 329(b) of the Constitution, when read with the RP Act, stipulates that an election cannot be contested unless a petition is filed with the relevant High Court. Incorrect rejection of nomination papers is one of the reasons for filing such an election petition. Therefore, submitting an election petition to the Gujarat High Court is the available legal remedy. The RP Act mandates that High Courts try to wrap up these proceedings in six months, a deadline that has historically not been adhered to. Election petitions should be handled quickly; that would be a positive move.
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